Bills fall to 2-2, lose to the Eagles

Bills Report Staff

09/29/2003

In what Buffalo fans hoped would result in the return of the dominant Bills that opened the season 2-0, the Buffalo Bills hosted the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday afternoon. Wounded Buffalo had just come off a divisional loss to the Miami Dolphins while Philadelphia had just come off from a bye week of vacation. The Eagles were also hoping to return to their dominant status they left on the field last season.

Philadelphia quickly jumped on the field with a 10 point lead in the 1st quarter with a 2 yard touchdown run by Correll Buckhalter and a David Akers 26 yard field goal. The Eagles managed to control the ball for almost 14 minutes of the 1st quarter. Quarterback Donovan McNabb racked up 172 yards in passing and 47 in rushing while Brian Westbrook rushed for 96 yards and wrapped the game with his 62 yard lone touchdown of the day.

Near the end of the 2nd quarter it appeared Buffalo would start their comeback, as they drove the Philadelphia 23 yard line, however, fumbled and gave away any chance of putting points up in the first half. The Eagles capitilized on the fumble with an Akers 34 yard field goal just before the half. Akers also added a 22 yard field goal in the 3rd quarter, the only points put up in the 3rd quarter.

During the 4th quarter, Drew Bledsoe and the Bills sattled up and drove the field resulting with a 3 yard touchdown pass to Bobby Shaw. The two-point attempt afterwards failed. Then Buffalo drove the field once again and Bledsoe ran it in for a 1 yard touchdown and moved the Bills within three points. However, you could say Brian Westbrook carried the team on his shoulders with his breakout 62 yard touchdown that wrapped the game in green and silver. The Eagles won 23 – 13.

Bledsoe hit 27 out of 43 for 296 yards, no interceptions. The Bills suffered without a running game - Travis Henry was out with a rib injury and Sammy Morris out with a hernia. Their leading runner, Joe Burns, totaled a lousy 17 rushing yards. The Bills unbalanced offense also ran the ball just 8 times, compared to 43 pass attempts. Eric Moulds had 8 catches for 114 yards, his second 100 yard game this season. Bobby Shaw turned out 92 yards on 8 catches along with his 3 yard touchdown catch. Josh Reed had one catch for nine yards. Philadelphia accounted for 335 total yards while Buffalo managed to strike out 308 total yards.

Buffalo fumbled the ball 3 times, only giving it away once.

The Bills defense recorded 2 sacks, one by Aaron Schobel and one by Jeff Posey. The leading tacklers against the Eagles were London Fletcher and Pierson Prioleau, both with 7 tackles. Penalties haunted the city of Buffalo once again, as they were flagged 10 times for 84 yards.

The loss puts the Bills at 2-2 overall on the season, still 1-1 in the division. Next week the Bills will have lighter schedule as they play host to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals, who are 1-3 on the season, are coming off an upset win over the Cleveland Browns.